Horn dinos 'two species, not one'

A debate over whether Triceratops and Torosaurus are two different life stages of the same species has been decided in a new analysis of the prehistoric specimens classifying them into two distinct groups. The study rejected 2010 research claiming the Triceratops was merely a youngster and Torosaurus was an adult of the same species. The new research, published Feb. 29 in the journal PLoS One, said the analysis of the fossils do not support the same species theory. Nicholas Longrich and Daniel Field, researchers at Yale University in New Haven, Conn., studied 35 specimens attributed to both species and concluded they represented two distinct animals. ?We looked at a bunch of changes in the skulls as the animals age and used a program to arrange the skulls from youngest to oldest,? Longrich told Neil Bowdler of BBC News. ?What we found is there are young Torosaurus individuals and very old Triceratops individuals and that?s inconsistent with Torosaurus being an adult Triceratops.? Studying the skulls and frill

A debate over whether Triceratops and Torosaurus are two different life stages of the same species has been decided in a new analysis of the prehistoric specimens classifying them into two distinct ...